Saga: A Novel of Medieval Iceland
By Jeff Janoda
"As focused as Jane Austen, as macabre as Stephen King, Jeff Janoda traces out the hidden springs of power in the micro-society of an Icelandic fjord. He tells a tale of complex feud with all the fullness and detail of a modern novel, but leaves its violent and treacherous heroes as enigmatic as before. A brilliant blend of scholarship and insight."
-- Tom Shippey, author of The Road to Middle-Earth
“Debut novelist Janoda paints a richly textured portrait of Icelandic culture … a gripping recreation of an ancient genre.”
-- Kirkus Reviews
“This detail-rich novel is a retelling of a thirteenth-century Icelandic saga … does what good historical fiction is supposed to do: put a face on history that is recognizable to all.”
-- Brad Hopper, Booklist
Jeff Janoda brings us a masterful retelling of the ancient Saga of the People of Eyri, set in feudal Iceland “the Free State” of 965 AD. Saga tells the story of the savage rituals of feud and sacrifice brought by settlers from Norway, and their new competing beliefs in a democratic legal assembly and a code of restraint.
When Thorolf the Viking trades away his valuable lands to spite his son, Arnkel, the ruthless Norse chieftain vows to regain the land at all costs. Robbed of his rightful inheritance, Arnkel begins a venomous feud with his neighbors and with rival chieftain Snorri – a lawless dispute destined to end in betrayal and death.
Janoda’s characters are eloquently wrought, their passions and pagan beliefs brought to life in a tale over a thousand years old. He renders fantastical elements like spirits and elves as vividly as their human counterparts, illuminating the harshness of life in a society on the brink of modernity, yet isolated in the farthest reaches of the planet.
Medieval expert Tom Shippey says of this book, “Sagas look like novels superficially, in their size and layout and plain language, but making their narratives into novels is a trick which has proved beyond most who have tried it. Janoda’s Saga provides a model of how to do it: pick out the hidden currents, imagine how they would seem to peripheral characters, and as with all historical novels, load the narrative with period detail drawn from the scholars. No better saga adaptation has been yet written.”
June 08 Fiction/Fantasy Paperback $17.95 360 pp 5 ½ x 8 ½ ISBN 13: 978-0-89733-568-3 ISBN 10: 0-89733-568-6 Academy Chicago Publishers
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